Arkansas State Police are investigating Wednesday an overnight shooting that left an Illinois fugitive dead and a Bryant police officer wounded.
Bryant officers responded about 11 p.m. Tuesday to a burglar alarm at the Fred's Store at 3395 Arkansas 5. Officer Scott Johnson, the first to arrive, encountered a man, later identified as 41-year-old Thomas O’Dell, in a fenced area along the building's west side, state police said.
Johnson and O'Dell exchanged gunfire as a second officer approached the store, state police said. Johnson was shot multiple times, the Bryant Police Department said, and was taken to a Little Rock hospital, treated and released. Johnson is expected to make a full recovery.
O'Dell, who was wanted in Mattoon, Ill., on aggravated robbery and first-degree murder charges in the March 18 death of Benjamin Newton, was taken to Saline Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Bryant and Mattoon, Ill., authorities said.
O'Dell said was also a suspect in two vehicle thefts, one at gunpoint, in Springfield, Mo., and Mansfield, Mo., over the past week, Bryant police said.
The Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division is creating a case file for the Saline County prosecuting attorney on whether Johnson used deadly force legally, said state police.
